lf a dozen mansions in London, Oxford,
Paris, Antwerp, Brussels and Ghent.

Yet the owner of this vast mass of mingled nonsense and erudition, this
library of the curiosities of literature, was as generous in imparting as
in acquiring his literary treasures. No English scholar but was freely
welcome to the loan of his volumes; and his own taste and critical
knowledge are said to have been of the first order.

From this, probably the most extensive private library ever gathered, let
us turn to the largest single purchase, in number of volumes, made at one
time for a public library. When Dr. J. G. Cogswell went abroad in 1848,
to lay the foundations of the Astor Library, he took with him credentials
for the expenditure of $100,000; and, what was of even greater
importance, a thoroughly digested catalogue of _desiderata_, embracing
the most important books in every department of literature and science.
No such opportunity of buying the finest books at the lowest prices is
likely ever to occur again, as the fortuitous concourse of events brought
to Dr. Cogswell. It was the year of revolutions--the year when the
thrones were tottering or falling all over Europe, when the wealthy and
privileged classes were trembling for their possessions, and anxious to
turn them into ready money. In every time of panic, political or
financial, the prices of books, as well as of all articles of luxury, are
the first to fall. Many of the choicest collections came to the hammer;
multitudes were eager to sell--but there were few buyers except the book
merchants, who were all ready to sell again. The result was that some
80,000 volumes were gathered for the Astor Library, embracing a very
large share of the best editions and the most expensive works, with many
books strictly denominated rare, and nearly all bound in superior style,
at an average cost of about $1.40 per volume. This extraordinary good
fortune enabled the Astor Library to be opened on a very small endowment,
more splendidly equipped for a library of reference than any new
institution could be today with four or five times the money.

Compared with such opportunities as these, you may consider the
experiences of the little libraries, and the narrow means of recruitment
generally found, as very literally the day of small things. But a wise
apportionment of small funds, combined with a good knowledge of the
commercial value of books, and perpetual vigilance in using
opportunities,